CHAPTER ONE

Eliza looked down at her lap with frustration. The knitting needles and ball of yarn had achieved a life of their own, and completely tangled and turned into a mass of jumbled knots. "Aargh!" She yelled out in exasperation. It was supposed to be a simple undercover case. Join a knitting group, find out who was stealing small, yet valuable, items from the shop. The owner had said that, not only would she get paid to solve the case, but it would also be fun.

'This is more aggravating than William!' She thought with despair. Absently she pulled at the yarn on her lap. It was also leaving white frayed strands all over her blue dress. "Lizzie, Inspector Wellington is here to see you." Ivy said from the door. Eliza turned around and William burst out laughing. "What happened to you? Your hair and dress are covered with... fluff?" He came over grinning and plucked a fiber from her hair and held it up. "It's pretty soft. Are you knitting?" He was still grinning widely, "Decided to take up a hobby more suitable for being a wife then?"

Eliza used the scowl she usually reserved for him. He chuckled and sat at the other end of the couch she was on. "Did you get a pet sheep?" He looked at her lap, "I don't know anything about knitting, but I don't think that looks right. What is it you are trying to do?"

She sighed heavily and leaned back on her side of the couch. "I joined a knitting group, I'm undercover on a case." "Ah... well, you can add this to your list of skills you lack, along with cooking." He looked amused with himself. Eliza threw the ball of knots at him. He caught it and looked surprised, "It's really nice actually." He looked down at the tangles and absently began to unravel them. "Although, I do prefer a nice dark shade of blue... Want to knit me a jumper then?" She turned her head sideways to look at him, "Even if I could knit, you are massive. I can't even start a scarf, at this rate it would take me over a year to knit one sleeve for you." He chuckled, he had never thought of himself to be 'massive', just tall and broad, but he could see how, by a newbie knitter's standpoint, he might be considered large.

He was humming under his breath and, much to Eliza's surprise, deftly untangling the yarn. 'He actually looks relaxed...' "William, how are you doing that?" "What?" She gestured at the pile that was starting to look more like a ball of yarn instead of tangles, "That. Fixing it." He shrugged, "It's pretty easy, just follow the strand and push it through the knotted loops. It's relaxing. You should try it." He held it out to her and she recoiled. He snickered and continued playing with it.

"What's your case? Someone get stabbed by knitting needles?" He asked. She crossed her arms, "You think you're being very funny today. No. Theft. The owner thinks someone from the knitting group is stealing small items from her shop. She does inventory before the knitting group meets in the evenings and she noticed, after everyone is gone, that buttons and various trinkets are missing. Apparently some of the items have great value, she asked that I join the knitting group, and in exchange, I would receive free lessons along with my fee. I think I prefer just getting my fee." He smiled, half listening, his focus was mostly on the ball of yarn. Eliza was loath to admit it, but it looked like he had actually sorted it out.

"Aha! All done! Here you go." He handed her a perfectly balled up ball of yarn. Eliza reached for it and stared at the perfect sphere in her hand. Then she looked up at William and blinked. "Do you want to knit?" She asked, holding out the needles. He shook his head, "Not at that stage yet, but thanks for the offer. I came by for another reason." "Oh? How can I help you." "Not you so much, Ivy. Did she cook? I'm hungry, I haven't eaten all day." Eliza laughed, "I suppose feeding you is the least I can do in exchange for fixing the yarn. Why didn't you go to a pub?" She asked curious. William shrugged, "I met the new superintendent today, I figured you'd want to hear about that. Interesting fellow." Eliza perked up and moved the knitting to the coffee table. She turned to face William. "You don't seem angry, I'm guessing it went well?" He smiled, "Aye, certainly not what I was expecting. I'll tell you about it over dinner." Eliza nodded, "I'll just go tell Ivy to set the dining room table for us." He shook his head, "No, don't trouble her, I can eat in the kitchen with you two." Ivy heard this as she came upstairs to tell Eliza that dinner was ready, "You most certainly will not, I will set the table properly for you two." William turned around, "It's truly not necessary, I didn't mean to impose." Ivy shook her head, "You two have work to discuss, and you'll have more room at the dining room table, I'll have it set up in no time. Don't worry." Ivy hurried off. 'I hope that man plans on making his intentions more obvious, Lizzie has no clue how he feels about her.' She smiled and shook her head.

"Ah, that was delicious!" William said with a contended sigh as he leaned back in his chair. Eliza set her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her hands, smiling at William. "I do not think you stopped even for one moment to breath. You never told me about the new Super!" William grinned. "Sorry, I was busy all morning, I had lost track of time and forgot to eat. Do you have any of Henry's whisky? I'll tell you everything over a drink." Eliza chuckled, "Very well, let's retire to the drawing room, I'll have tea and you can have your whisky."

Eliza told Ivy to bring tea to the drawing room. William was already there sitting on the couch. Eliza went to the sideboard, retrieved a bottle and a glass, and sat on the couch with William. She poured him a glass and he took a sip gratefully. "Thanks." He said holding the glass up to the light, "That's very good." "Did you also forget to drink today? You usually aren't far from a bottle." "Touché, my flask was empty, dunno how that happened, and I was so distracted... I forgot." He sounded surprised. "I... I think I was... happy? I only drink at work when I'm upset." Eliza looked sad, "That doesn't sound very good, are you usually very unhappy?" "Oh, Eliza, no, I think it's stress and having had to deal with Stirling." 'And worrying about you.' He thought. He smiled slightly, "I had a good day, I'll just have the one glass to celebrate." He held it up to toast to her and took another sip and then put it down on the table.

"So, tell me what happened, I can't wait any longer!" She said, practically bouncing in her seat. "I..." He began and there was a knock at the door. Eliza groaned and Ivy came in with the tea tray. "Lizzie, are you alright? Why are you groaning?" "William was just about to tell me about the new Superintendent, he seems to relish dragging out the story." She narrowed her eyes at him. He chuckled. "Then I will get out of your way promptly." Ivy said as she set the tray down and left, closing the door behind her. William held his hands up, "I'm starting, I'm starting..."

"I thought the new Super was going to begin next week but when I got in, Honeychurch intercepted me to tell me he had already started working, he wanted to get a head start on going through all the case files. Open and closed. Thankfully, I had organized everything and had it all ready." William said this with a self satisfied smile. "Let's just say he was very impressed." William pretended to hook his thumbs into invisible suspenders and look pleased with himself. Eliza laughed, she hadn't seen him this exuberant in years.

There was a crackle at the fire. William stood, added another log, and moved it around with the poker. Then he stood upright and faced Eliza, "He asked to meet with me and... Ach, Eliza, I'm going to skip ahead, he promoted me! Today!" Eliza squealed and clapped her hands. "William!" She said. She stood and threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up, and twirled her around. He was still holding her tight to his body, but let go just enough so her feet could touch the floor again. Eliza still had her arms wrapped around his neck, she moved her hands to either side of his face and looked at him, her eyes shinning. "I am so happy for you William, so happy! Why didn't you tell me as soon as you came over?" He shrugged with a grin, "I still can't believe it to be honest. All those years under Stirling, with him dangling a promotion in front of me, like a donkey wanting a carrot, and Super Mathews giving it to me today... It's crazy. I even signed the paperwork. Eliza, I got a raise too, I didn't even care about that, but it's substantial." He gently placed a lock of hair that had fallen out of Eliza's updo back behind her ear.

"I owe all of this to you." William said softly. Eliza's eyebrows shot up, "Me?" He nodded, "Yes, you. You called me lazy, and in a self-imposed slumber. It angered me and, well I actually started to work with more diligence, my rate of solved cases was so high, he was very pleased." William stroked Eliza's cheek lightly with the back of his hand. "Eliza, I told him it was because of you. I told him how you've helped on cases." This surprised Eliza even more than all the other news he had told her. "William... I don't know what to say..." He smiled down at her, "He wants to meet you, Mathews. He was very intrigued by a female private detective. I think it might lead to good things for you. For us." Eliza gasped and put her hand on William's chest. "Seriously?" She asked, not daring to hope. "Seriously, no joke Lizzie." He was so jubilant he hadn't realized that he had slipped back into using her childhood nickname.

Eliza was feeling light-headed, so many emotions were assaulting her simultaneously, hope, joy, and a trembling sensation that she thought was due to William's closeness. 'This is new... he never affected me this way before.' "Eliza, are you alright? You look pale." William's face went from happy to concerned pretty quickly, "Come sit, this was a lot of news to process at once, it's quite a shock." He led her over to the couch and helped her sit. Then he refilled her tea cup and added a splash of whisky. She took it from him gratefully.

"Thank you, I apologize, I think I was just warm from standing near the fire." Eliza said blushing, not wanting to admit that it had been from being in his embrace. Her head began to clear a bit and some color came back to her cheeks. William still looked worried, "Would you like me to call for a doctor?" She shook her head and smiled, "No, no, I'm fine William, please don't worry." She took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Okay, but if you feel weak again, you will tell me?" She laughed, "Yes, I'm fine. Now, tell me the rest of your conversation with him!" William's smile returned slowly and he filled in the gaps of the rest of his meeting.

By the time William had finished telling Eliza everything it had grown to be very late. "Eliza, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize the time." He looked shocked as the grandfather clock chimed. She smiled, "It's okay, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight, I'm so happy." William held his hand out and she placed hers in it. He gently stroked the back of it with his thumb. "I'll call on you tomorrow?" She nodded then paused, "I have the knitting circle in the evening, would you like to go out for dinner after? It finishes around 7." "Perfect. I can meet you near there, where is it?"